The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to allow a pilot program for new LAPD license plate readers. The program will have the police department and Axon Enterprise installing cameras across city streetlights over a three-month period.
Council members engaged in discussion over the safety of these cameras, with some saying they allow the police to engage in “mass surveillance.”
Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez introduced a motion — item 33 on Tuesday’s agenda — to delay the program and allow for further review by the Police Commissioner, but the motion needed 10 votes in favor and councilmembers voted just shy of that number with a 9-6 split.
In July, the LAPD paused its contract with Flock Safety after citizens across the country voiced concerns over the ethics of Flock license-plate-reading cameras.
“From sharing data with ICE, to Flock cameras being used to monitor protest activity, to states using this technology to help prosecute women seeking abortions, concerns about Flock extend far beyond basic privacy safeguards,” said Soto-Martinez.
But the departure from Flock did not stop the LAPD from engaging in this type of surveillance. Earlier this year, the LAPD signed a $235 million contract with Axon to provide body cameras, tasers and the same cameras that were approved on Tuesday.
These surveillance technologies often implement AI in their collection of data, something that contributes to the criticism against Flock and Axon.
“In the neighborhoods that I represent, there still seems to be a lot of uncertainty about how this new technology will work,” said Councilmember Curren Price at Tuesday’s meeting, before voting in favor of vetoing the program. “AI, as we know, is expanding at a rapid pace, and government has not kept pace,” he added.
The controversies surrounding this technology prompted City Council to weigh in on this contract. This is not the norm, as the Board of Police Commissioners — who had already approved the contract — are usually the entity that makes these decisions.
In a public review of Axon’s technologies, police commissioners wrote in favor of the contract, but only under the condition that additional guidelines on how the information is used by the LAPD are implemented. These included increased audits, limiting what officers can access the data and shortening the time in which the data is available to the department.
However, the guidelines were not official LAPD policy, which caused City Council to step in for additional review.
Ultimately, councilmembers failed to vote to prevent this part of the contract, license-plate-reading street cameras, from moving forward. The other aspects of the contract, including body-worn and vehicle cameras, are yet to be reviewed and therefore are still on hold.
Public comments during the hearing showed how heated the discussion surrounding this topic currently is. When providing comment for item 33, a member of the public said, “for those of you with the American and Mexican flags on your desk, you look fucking ridiculous,” addressing councilmembers who voted against delaying Axon’s program.
The installation will come at no cost to the city; a third-party company, Ubicquia Inc., will be handling installation.
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